{"id":106,"date":"2020-02-16T14:37:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T14:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/18.171.192.198\/blog\/?p=106"},"modified":"2020-02-16T14:37:21","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T14:37:21","slug":"the-corncrake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/?p=106","title":{"rendered":"The Corncrake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The subtle honey and apricot livery of the corncrake <\/em>\u00a9WildSmiths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the highlights of the Isle of Coll\u2019s extraordinary wildlife pageant is the corncrake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some might call its appearance drab, but here at WildSmiths we find the subtle tones of honey and apricot rather appealing, enabling it to blend in equally with last year\u2019s dead grass stems and this year\u2019s fresh nettle flowers.  Subtle is not, though, the word to describe the song of the corncrake<\/a>. The male\u2019s brash, grating rasp, which even the most devoted parent would have trouble commending in its offspring, is the omnipresent sound-track of the Coll summer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If its attraction to visitors is based not on a striking appearance, nor on a beautiful song, why are so many of us compelled to seek it out?  Well that, I think, must be to do with its tragic history. You see, the corncrake was, until the start of the twentieth century, a ubiquitous denizen of British farmland \u2013 as widespread and as unremarkable as oats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The perfect corncrake habitat<\/em> \u00a9WildSmiths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that was before mechanised mowers, and the shift away from hay to silage, progressively wiped it off the map. By the mid-1990s, there were no more than 500 singing males clinging on, mostly in the Scottish isles.  However, its seemingly inevitable slide to extinction was halted by the determined efforts of farmers, crofters and conservation bodies, supported by carefully designed and targeted agri-environment schemes. As a result, it staged a recovery, although the current population of around 1000 singing males looks like it may be in decline again.  That puts Coll\u2019s hundred into context \u2013 this really is a top place in the UK for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Purposefully scurrying through the nettle beds<\/em> \u00a9WildSmiths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, where can you see one? Most visitors to Coll will, at some point, have made their way down to the fertile valley farmland at the southern end of the island, where the RSPB has its famous reserve<\/a>, in the hope of catching up with one. But, for a bird that is so noisy, the corncrake is famously elusive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The view from the RSPB\u2019s corncrake viewing platform<\/em> \u00a9WildSmiths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sarah and I once spent an afternoon sat on the RSPB\u2019s viewing platform, surrounded by singing corncrakes, but unable to see a single one. After a couple of hours, some cyclists arrived and, before they could sit down, three corncrakes popped into view right in front of us and strutted up and down. Crippling views! As quickly as they had appeared, the corncrakes slipped away again, back into the dense vegetation.  At which  the cyclists said \u201cThat was great! Right, we\u2019re off to get a cup of tea.\u201d \u201cNot so fast,\u201d we replied. \u201cDo you know how long we\u2019ve been sat here? It\u2019s your turn to put in a couple of hours, while we<\/em> get a cup of tea!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A typical fleeting glimpse<\/em> \u00a9WildSmiths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why so elusive? In part, it\u2019s down to the height of the vegetation they nest in. Within a few weeks of the birds\u2019 arrival in mid-April, the rough grassland, nettle beds and irises are as high as a corncrake\u2019s eye and, very quickly, they disappear from view.  It\u2019s this, coupled with their remarkable reluctance to fly more than a couple of metres once they\u2019re on their breeding grounds \u2013 as if, having migrated 7,000 miles from equatorial Africa to flop down in a Hebridean nettle bed, they think \u201cBlowed if I\u2019m doing that again!\u201d  Sarah and I had a similar reaction after we ran a half-marathon a few years back! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A more generous view in the RSPB garden <\/em>\u00a9WildSmiths<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

So Coll is definitely the place to be if you want the best chance of a corncrake encounter. If you\u2019re here at any time between April and August, you will almost certainly hear them and have a very good chance of seeing one \u2013 if you just spend enough time sitting on that viewing platform. You could also join us on one of our WildSmiths walks and enjoy many other aspects of Coll\u2019s wonderful wildlife as well.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the highlights of the Isle of Coll\u2019s extraordinary wildlife pageant is the corncrake. Some might call its appearance drab, but here at WildSmiths we find the subtle tones …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coll-nature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_2476-Snapseed-smaller-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildsmiths.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}